PRAYER 



OPENING OF THE APRIL MEETING OF NATIONAL INSTITUTE, 



APRIL 1, 1844. 



BY THE REV. CLEMENT M. BUTLER, OF GEORGETOWN, D. C. 



Almighty and everlasting God, our Creator, Redeemer, Preserver, continual and 

 bountiful Benefactor, we would approach thy footstool, with an awful sense of thy 

 majesty and glory, and with a contrite and humble confession of our sinfulness 

 and of our dependence upon thee. Though thou art exalted above all praise; 

 though thou inhabitest eternity; though thou art glorious in holiness and of 

 purer eyes than to behold iniquity ; yet, in thine infinite compassion, thou hast per- 

 mitted and encouraged us to draw nigh unto thee in prayer, and, through Christ our 

 Redeemer, to have access to thee with filial confidence through the faith of Him. 

 Through Him we come to thee, acknowledging our dependence, confessing our 

 manifold transgressions of thy righteous laws, appealing to thee for forgiveness, 

 adoring thee for thy greatness, blessing and magnifying thy glorious name for thy 

 unspeakable goodness to the children of men . 



We beseech thee. Almighty God, to let thy blessing rest upon the Institution 

 whose members are here and now assembled. Grant that the purpose for which it 

 was established may be accomplished ; and that it may be n-.ade to promote the 

 welfare of man and the glory of thy great name. We would lay its foundations 

 in prayer, that its superstructure may rise in praise to thee. We would acknow- 

 ledge thee as the Father of our spirits. In the search for truth, we would look up 

 to and depend on thee as the essential truth — as the light and life of the souls of 

 all thy creatures. We confess in humility that, because of sin, our minds are short- 

 sighted, erring, and benighted. Left to ourselves in search of truth, we grope in 

 the noonday as in the night ; we look for light, but behold obscurity ; for brightness, 

 but behold darkness. It is only as the illuminating ray of tliy divine intelligence 

 lights up our dark spirits that we can see aright. Thou art light, and in theo is no 

 darkness at all. In thy light let us see light. Illumine what in us is dark, and 

 remove whatever in us obstructs the reception and the love of truth, that we may 

 see the realities of things in nature, in providence, and in redemption. And, oh 

 Father of Lights, as in the proceedings of this Institution the manifold marvels of 

 science and of nature are made to pass before our minds, enable us to rise from the 

 contemplation of what thou doest and enablest man to do, to what thou art ; that 

 we may not only exclaim in wonder " How manifold are thy works !" but may add, 

 "in wisdom," in goodness and mercy, "hast thou made them all." Let not the 

 minds of any of us rest in the so enamoured contemplation of the wonder and beau- 

 ties which are manifest in thy works, as to bo unable to soar to the perception and 

 enjoyment of the higher loveliness that is in thyself. Oh, let not Philosophy, with 

 her eye and heart fi.tcd upon the earth, prone and grovelling, worship and serve the 

 creature more than the Creator ; but baptize her in tho pure fountain of eternal 



